Christmas Wishes
by Immortal Star
Summary: On the day before Christmas a little girl shows Max the two paths she can take after Christmas... (M/L!) *Part #2 UP* *COMPLETE*
1. Default Chapter

Christmas Wishes  
  
Summary: On the day before Christmas a little girl shows Max the two paths she can take after Christmas... (M/L!)  
  
Genre: Angst/Romance  
  
Archive: Tell me first, I'll probably give you permission!  
  
Set SOMEWHERE in season 2, no Alec lies, no Terminal City. Let's just say winter fell a lot earlier :-D  
  
A/N: Okay, I am posting this part just before Christmas, and on Christmas I'll add the well, Christmas part... Then on New years I'll add a New years Eve part! :-D Now I just went way back in the archive and found out my story is a bit like the answers to an old Christmas challenge, I honestly didn't plan on this and hope the story can still be enjoyed.  
  
CHRISTMAS WISHES  
  
Thick layers of bright white snow covered the ground of Seattle. It gave the broken city a festive look, but eyes could be deceived easily, as under the snow lay puddles of dried blood and broken guns.  
  
But even if the city had suffered and lost, people could't help to smile at sight of children playing in the snow, as if they didn't have to worry about lonely gunmen and gangsters. Snowballs flew through the air as children played.  
  
Max ducked as a misguided snowball soared through the air, missing her by mere inches. She resisted the urge to shout at the children, instead she continued her path. She dreaded snow, the main reason being that she had ran through the crystals barefooted once, many years ago.  
  
The memories didn't make her mood any brighter, she was still brooding over Logan's invitation to come and celebrate Christmas with him. Well, as far as celebrating could go in this city. But it didn't matter... She wasn't going. She wasn't even sure about going to see him anymore  
  
Slowly she continued to walk, not wanting to attract attention by fast- pacing through the glibbery snow. She'd witnessed many people getting their legs taken out under them by rushing to their jobs, not wanting to loose the by coming in late.  
  
For a moment, she stopped, feeling as if she was being watched. She quietly observed the area around her. She was standing in an alley that made a shortcut to the abandoned building she and Cindy squatted in.  
  
"Miss?" A soft voice came from the corner, coated in a rich English accent. Max turned to face the owner of the voice, but upon seeing nothing, she sighed. /Damn kids are playing with me/. But upon observing the area closer, she saw a hole in the wooden side of the building in front of her. Through the hole a pair of eyes stared at her with great curiousity. The face remained unseen, and Max moved closer.  
  
"Can you help me?" If it wasn't for her enhanced hearing system, she was sure she wouldn't have heard the barely hearable question. She couched down in front of the hole, staring into a pair of bright blue eyes. With a gasp she realised they looked like Logan's, but with a different shape.  
  
"Come in here, I know you want to see me!"  
  
Sighing, she crawled through the hole. Thousands of sentences repeated in her mind of why she should not give into her curiousity. None won. When she looked up again, she was surprised to face a young girl.  
  
"Now we're talkin'" The English accent melted away like ice in the sun, making place for a slang. Max observed the girl, who was wearing a small White dress. Her Brown hair hung in a loose ponytail, and her ears had two small rings in them. Nothing out of the ordinary, Max thought. Still she needed to make sure this wasn't one of White's breeding cults buddies.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I'd love to tell but... I can't."  
  
"Why?"  
  
The girl giggled, then walked off. When Max didn't follow, she shouted,  
  
"'C'mon I haven't got all day!"  
  
Max sighed and stood up to follow her, while wondering why she was doing this. /Could be hanging with the gang at Crash, but instead I'm following a.../ She didn't get a chance to finish her thoughts as she tripped over a box.  
  
"Shit!" She cursed, then quickly realised who she was with.  
  
"Don't worry, you're going to slip up like that plenty of times in the future"  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
The girl giggled again, and clapped in her hands. Suddenly the dark ware house faded away.  
  
"What the..." Max began, as the room changed. Suddenly she wasn't standing in a cold warehouse anymore, but in a graveyard. Judging from the sun shining down on her it was summer, and the coat suddenly seemed a huge weight on her back. She moved to take it off, but was stopped by the little girl.  
  
"Don't change your appearance, just look." She pointed at a row of stones, then walked over to them. Max followed, bewildred by the events that had just taken place. The child passed a few ones, looking at the names, before stopping at one.  
  
Max read the name, and gasped, as it read,  
  
Logan H. Cale  
  
1988-2023  
  
"You pushed him away... Such a sad story, it could've been perfect." The soft voice said from beside her.  
  
"I don't know what you mean." Max replied, finding it quite hard to use her vocal cords.  
  
"You left Seattle right after Christmas... A year later he was killed by his bad guy of the week."  
  
"But Christmas isn't over yet!"  
  
"Here it is... But relax a little, sheesh, it's just a future image."  
  
"What, so now I'm Scrooge?"  
  
"I'm the only one visiting you...." Was all the little girl said, before clapping in her hands again. The graveyard faded away, and so did the silence. The air became filled by shouts and laughter, and Max blinked a few times before realising she was standing in the middle of a party.  
  
Balloons flew over their heads, as children chased them all over the room. Max realised they were in the Penthouse. She spun around a few times, confused and disoriented.  
  
A tug at her t-shirt stopped her actions, and she sighed.  
  
"So... We crashing a party?"  
  
"My fifth birthday... Wow, when they said my one-night job would take me to weird places I never thought of this one."  
  
"One night job?!" Max said, getting more confused every second.  
  
The little girl giggled once more, and Max chalked it down as a sign that she was nervous. Deciding this was the best time to press on, but before she could even open her mouth a shout came from the corner.  
  
"Mooom!" Max searched the room, seeing the young girl that was guiding her through this... Thing standing near the left wall. Upon observing her closer, she noticed this was a younger version. She jumped when she heard the door behind her open, and the little girl didn't hesitate a second, pulling her behind the kitchen counter.  
  
Max focused on the person entering the room, and gasped in surpise as she saw.. Herself. She let out a highly audible gasp, and turned to face the girl.  
  
"What the hell is going on?"  
  
With a sigh, the girl clapped in her hands again. The kitchen faded away, and they were standing in the warehouse again. For a few seconds Max was speechless, and the girl spoke.  
  
"Please think twice about the decisions you're going to make... I want to exist."  
  
Max spun around to ask her something, but found nothing.  
  
She blinked a few times, before finally being able to move. In a daze she crawled through the hole again, and was met by an icy gust of wind. She shivered a bit before standing up.  
  
It was then that her pager came to life, and she didn't even check the display. Instead she headed to the nearest phone booth and without even looking at the pad she punched in a number that had become all to familiar to her.  
  
After the first two rings the person at the end of the other line picked the phone up.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"It's me.. Hitting you back."  
  
=-=  
  
A/N: Okay *Sigh* This has to be the longest chapter I've ever written to something! 


	2. A New Year has Come

CHRISTMAS WISHES  
  
A/N: The former part was the Christmas part. Sorry people for the mistake in the A/N, but with the entire family coming around I never got to explain it. That author's note was what I had originally planned, but had decided not to do. My problem being, I had forgotten to change it, I think many people are angry with me L. All I have is "Sorry."  
  
This part is switching locations, but ending with a shipper blow into the New Year!  
  
CHRISTMAS WISHES  
  
New Year wasn't as big of a celebration to America anymore. It was no longer celebrated with champagne and big fireworks. It came and went in silence. Only an occasional boom was heard, but there were no cheers.  
  
Logan looked at Max, who was standing near the window. Her forehead was pressed against the cold glass, and she seemed deep in thought. He walked over to her, but kept a distance between them.  
  
"Sorry, for not dropping by on Christmas." She began, but he held up his hands to stop her.  
  
"Hey, if you had other things to do, I understand."  
  
She smiled, and walked over the couch. She didn't sit down on the pillows, but on the side, very similar to the way she had sat almost two years ago.  
  
There was a long silence, only to be broken by a loud boom. Both of them looked out of the window, and Max smiled as she saw a shower of Orange coming down.  
  
Logan looked at the clock, noticing that in an hour the year 2023 would start. Times were different, but he still had memories of how he used to celebrate the New Year. There used to be fireworks filling up the sky, and people laughing as they stood outside, sharing a bottle of Champagne.  
  
He'd been surprised when Max had stopped by that evening. It wasn't usual for her to stop by without getting a page from him.  
  
"Want something to eat?"  
  
"Hmm. Sure." She answered, her thoughts with the little girl she'd seen the day before Christmas. Christmas itself had passed without any big events. It was just she and Cindy talking over a cup of Hot Chocolate she'd managed to get of the Black market. No Christmas Trees or Turkey.  
  
It was Cindy, who had kicked her out of the house telling her to visit her boy-toy tonight, telling her to visit her boy-toy. She'd protested, but had been granted with the door being shut in front of her.  
  
So, all that had been left was going to Logan's.  
  
Logan stared at her for a few moments, a bit worried why she wasn't talking much. Figuring she probably had a lot on her mind, he walked over to the kitchen. On his way, he turned on the radio, and sighed as music filled the room.  
  
***  
  
A crowd had gathered around a large fire in the middle of the road. Adam Thompson watched with interest as his father threw a few blocks into the flames.  
  
It was New Year's Eve, and there still was an ages old tradition to set up a fire. He didn't know why, so he just enjoyed the fact that everyone was together. He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to look at Mary.  
  
"Enjoying yourself Adam?" She asked, removing her hand.  
  
He smiled, nodding. He turned his face to the fire again, and chuckled as he saw a young girl following her dad's every move, as he tried to keep the fire burning.  
  
It all felt so familiar to him, and yet he felt like he wasn't supposed to be here.  
  
~*~  
  
"Do I know you?"  
  
"No. I don't think so."  
  
~*~  
  
He blinked, as he remembered the woman he'd seen when he'd gotten out of the hospital. She'd seemed so familiar to him, and he was sure he knew her from somewhere.  
  
But then again. He sighed, gazing at the fire. Nothing was clear in his memory, it was returning in small snippets of information. He'd wondered why there weren't any pictures of him in the house, but Mary had told him that they didn't have a camera. Strangely, he'd found one a few days earlier, but hadn't asked Mary about it, knowing he would get a vague response.  
  
A loud 'Boom' made him look up. A splash of colours filled the sky, and when he looked for the person who'd set of the fireworks, he saw Buddy standing with a lightener, grinning like a fool.  
  
He laughed too, setting his thoughts aside. With a quick pace, he headed over to the fire, and threw some wood into it. Buddy came to stand by his side, still grinning.  
  
"You're going to be the main topic of gossip tonight." Adam said, turning to face him.  
  
Buddy chuckled, and shook his head.  
  
"If so. Then let it be."  
  
Adam laughed, and then checked his watch.  
  
"Only thirty minutes to go."  
  
***  
  
The night wasn't the way she liked it. It was supposed to be quiet, with only the occasional rat sneaking past her.  
  
Tonight, there were too many sounds. Every hour she could her a loud sound coming from the sky. She didn't like the sounds; they made her think of her home, or at least what had been her home.  
  
She sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her home wasn't there anymore,  
  
Everyone thought that a new year would bring good. But, in her opinion it always brought pain and fear. Riots could come from the late-night partiers who decided they were good enough to take the government on. People could lose body-parts with the fireworks. It made her wonder how people could enjoy this night.  
  
Before she had been brought back home, she'd celebrated New Year with the friends she had at that moment. Every year the faces would change, and every one of them had their own way of doing things.  
  
It had been getting to confusing, but when she got back home, it was as if everything had fallen into place. There were no things to worry about, apart from completing the mission she'd been send on.  
  
But even that turned out to be a lie. The people that were supposed to take care of her, had turned against her. She'd known it when the tac-teams had started shooting at her.  
  
Now, as the New Year was fifteen minutes away, she knew she would have to face the outside world again.  
  
X5-734 was no more. Brin had been re-born.  
  
***  
  
Logan sighed as Max set her Queen down on the chess board. She smirked, and he threw up his hands.  
  
"Believe that's checkmate."  
  
He smiled, and looked up into her eyes. He knew she was thinking the same as he was. It was almost the same as the old times, but then without a bullet migrating near his spine.  
  
They both stood up, and he started to move towards the kitchen, to make some more food.  
  
At least, he was, until he felt a click coming from below him. He almost fel onto the floor, but grabbed the nearest thing.  
  
"You idiot!" At Max's hiss he looked up, realising what he'd grabbed. His hand was holding her hand tightly. It was only a matter of time. He sighed, not even bothering to let go off her hand.  
  
Minutes ticked by, and nothing happened. His hand was still cluthcing hers, and the surprise was evident in her eyes, and she loosened her grip.  
  
"You... Are you...?"  
  
He nodded, before releasing hand from hers. She kneeled down next to him, and stared into his eyes.  
  
"I don't..." Logan broke her off in mid sentence, shaking his head. He lay his finger against her lips when she started another sentence, and she sighed.  
  
"It's been fourteen minutes Max."  
  
She looked at him, and he noticed a tear moving down her cheek. He wiped away the tear with his tumb, and smiled as she didn't try to turn her face away from him.  
  
"Wil you look at us?" He whispered, a smile forming on his lips. She looked up at him with a questioning glance. before catching onto his game.  
  
"Pathetic."  
  
Instead of continuing the conversation, he leaned down and his lips met hers. For a few seconds she resisted, scared, but when nothing happened she gave in. The kiss started soft, but grew passionate as the seconds ticked by. He was vaguely aware of a countdown on the radio, but as the reporter reached 1, he smiled and pulled back a little.  
  
"Happy New Year Max." He murmered against her lips, and she smiled.  
  
"Happy New year." She replied in a whispered, pulling him back into a kiss.  
  
A New Year had come, with new chances and hope. And she quite sure that from far away she heard the laughter of a young girl...  
  
=-=  
  
A/N: THERE! The Happy shippy ending. I am so not good at kissing scenes, but I hope I managed to make something out of it. The Zack and Brin parts came to me when my grandparents where talking about forgotten family members... Weird...  
  
AND EVERYONE WHO HAPPENS TO READ THIS:  
  
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 


End file.
